Tunes: Eric Burton is a small-town musicians with big dreams

Some of the people who have already taken notice of Burton's talents include singer-song writer Ben Harper's younger brother Joel Harper — who sent him a free guitar — and Gregg Alexander from the 1

Posted:
05/29/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

Musician Eric Burton — making a short appearance in the up-coming film Begin Again in July — will take the stage during Cherry Fields Sunday at the Rio Grande Theatre. (Courtesy photo)

With an American Idol audition already under his belt, the attention of several established musicians and an appearance in a new film called Begin Again, in theaters nation-wide July 4, there is no telling how far this local singer-songwriter will go.

Born in Los Angeles, Eric Burton, 23, moved to West Virginia when he was 11, then later to Alamogordo with his mother, uncle and younger brothers. He currently splits his time between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, where he performs at many of the local coffee shops and restaurants including Barnes & Noble and De La Vega's. As a solo artist, Burton writes his own songs, sings and plays guitar and keyboard.

Courtesy Photo

"I've been playing guitar for about five years," Burton said. "My whole family is in the theatrical arts or theatrically inclined, so I've always been exposed to it as a young kid."

Burton said he has been singing since he was about 12 years old, when his grandmother convinced him to sing in the church choir. Continually progressing his musical talent since then, Burton now describes his music as therapeutic poetry.

"It's just really interesting what rhythm does to syllables and words," Burton said. "I just internalize everything and then I just throw it back out again."

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In October 2012, Burton used his poetic talents to audition on Season 12 of American Idol in Houston and made it to Hollywood week, where he got to meet Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler. However he was eliminated after the first rounds.

"I left Los Angeles (while staying with family) with about $30 in my pocket and a round-trip ticket for the Grey Hound Bus," Burton said of getting to his audition. "I got to Houston really early in the morning and I didn't have any place to stay or food or anything."

He ended up camping out in another contestant's car, outside of a Burger King and used the $30 to go shopping. The two of them also went to auditions together, Burton said.

"We went to the big Texas stadium and there were about 90,000 people total, (each from a) different city and state," he said. "We got our wristbands and we registered. It was like the prelude before we got to sing for Jennifer Lopez and the stars."

Burton said he made it through the preliminary stage, but his friend wasn't so lucky and left to go back home, so Burton needed to find a new place to stay.

"One of the parents of a contestant let me stay at their house and it was big house — palm trees in the back yard, I was swimming in their pool," he said. "It was awesome, I didn't want to come back home."

After making it through the final audition in front of the show's star hosts, Burton said he was flown out to Hollywood week, where about 350 out of the 90,000 people auditioned. He was among about half of the 350 people eliminated after the second day. But this didn't slow Burton down. A few months later, he got a call from a family friend who was writing the music for the new film Begin Again, directed by John Carny and starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. Burton was given the opportunity to play a small part as a singer-songwriter.

"I was flown out (to New York City) for two weeks in July of 2012 and we shot a bar scene where they had singer-songwriters come in and I made the cut, so I'm in it for 30 seconds," he said.

Burton said during filming, he was asked to sit next to Keira Knightley.

"I was trying so hard not to make weird noises," he said of his experience meeting the actress. "I was so thrilled to be there the whole time."

Burton said he also managed to get an approving nod from Mark Ruffalo while playing his music on set.

Now that Burton is back home, his focus is on being represented, he said.

"There have been some people in Canada listening to (my) music and there are different people who are trying to help me now," he said. "I'm trying to write music so I can get a publishing deal or something like that."

"Singing is just what I do and playing and writing songs – hopefully for movies and publishing, things like that," Burton said. "I would love to continue with the acting."

Burton said he owes his success to his family.

"My uncle and his friends and the people that I've met have everything to do with what I'm doing now," he said.

Burton will perform in between sets during a concert featuring the Cherry Pickers at the Rio Grande Theatre, 211 N. Main Street, from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

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